Broken chairs and head slaps
by MissMcGinger
Summary: Tim decided not to mention something which could be very important to Tony. This time he was determined Tony would not risk himself to save them both.


_I own nothing recognisable here._

 _Italics are a flashback._

 _I hope you enjoy this oneshot._

* * *

"So Gatsby waits and waits for Daisy to come to him, I think he realises that she will never come but he can't bring himself to give up on her, on their love." Tony stopped talking for a moment and tried to sit back up against the wall, shivering as his back pressed against the cold concrete.

"Spoiler alert, Daisy never does come for Gatsby and the mechanic whose wife Daisy killed finds him and shoots him thinking it was Gatsby that killed his wife. I never did like that ending, I always felt like Daisy got away with a lot and Gatsby suffered for nothing." He gave a small grin "I bet you could write a much better ending than Fitzgerald did Probie."

He looked down at his lap where Tim's head still lay, his skin deathly pale and his eyes closed. Tony looked down at the younger man's side where he held part of his own shirt trying desperately to stop the bleeding "I can't believe you didn't tell me." He whispered swallowing back tears.

 _Tim looked across at Tony who seemed remarkably calm considering they were currently tied to chairs facing the wrong ends of their own guns, it took a couple of moments before their attackers decided to leave them alone and Tim huffed "this is your fault Tony."_

 _Tony smirked raising an eyebrow as he did so "Really? How did you figure that one McWorried?"_

" _You were the one who decided to stop for coffee." Tim argued just wanting to vent his frustration._

 _Tony rolled his eyes "serioulsy Mcgee?"_

" _Yes Tony." Tim replied through clenched teeth as his side burned again, he looked away from Tony trying to make sure he didn't see the pained expression. He knew that if Tony found out he had been stabbed the older man would do something stupid to get them out of there and probably not in one piece._

Tony shivered again pulling Tim closer to his body "we are going to get out of here and when we do I'm going to make you sit through every damn film I can think of for making me stress like this."

Taking a deep breath Tony tried to stop the panic that was threatening to pull him under, looking around the room he tried to work out if he could use anything in there to get the pair of them out, leaving Tim was not an option.

Using his now ruined blazer as a blanket he gently used it to cover part of the younger man as he lowered him to the ground before he grabbed the bit of broken chair he was going to use as a weapon and moved to check the door again. Not shocked to find it still locked he sighed before moving round to the tiny window trying again to break it with the chair leg stopping when he heard a small groan from the other side of the room.

Dashing back over to Tim he dropped to his knees beside him "Hey Mc…Tim don't move." He gently instructed him brushing some of the hair from Tim's forehead before he put pressure on the wound again making Tim gasp and open his eyes.

"T'ny?" He mumbled looking up at the older man with a pain filled expression "We s'ill ere?" he asked his words slurring with the pain.

"Afraid so." Tony admitted taking his wrist to check his pulse "Why didn't you tell me you were hurt Tim?" He asked trying to hide his hurt expression.

Tim sighed "Didn't want you to get hurt." He explained hoping he wouldn't have to try to explain any further.

Tony managed a sad smile "I could have thought about getting us out of here before now."

The younger man shook his head "No…No heroics." He pushed not willing to let Tony do something that could result in him getting hurt "my turn to get the time with the nurses." He tried to joke before a coughing fit left him struggling to breathe.

Tony would have laughed had Tim not started to choke "Come on Tim breathe slowly in and out like me." He instructed showing Tim how to breathe.

They sat together for a while Tony helping Tim breathe by sitting him up slightly keeping Tim's head on his shoulder "You know I think Gibbs will be so stunned it's you on the floor and not me he might forget the headslap for getting kidnapped in the first place."

Tim managed a small grunt in response which made Tony worry "Hey Tim stay awake no sleeping on the job." He urged his tone full of worry "Don't you dare give up." He added resting his fingers on Tim's neck so he could feel if his pulse changed.

Tim blinked sluggishly "M'tired T'ny." He slurred trying to move away from the pressure against his side.

Getting worried now Tony moved him slightly so he could look at his face "You do not have permission to sleep McGee." He urged trying his best Gibbs tone "Gibbs will kill us both if he walks in here and finds you….asleep."

Tony was going to continue when the sound of gunfire echoed throughout the building, tightening his grip on Tim he let his hand drop from his partners pulse to grab the broken chair leg ready to defend them both.

He held his breath until he heard footsteps approaching the door to their room silently he moved Tim back to the floor before he stood in front of him determined that he would not let any more harm to come to the younger man.

Hiding the chair leg behind his back he kept a firm grip on it so he could use the element of surprise against their would be attacker, he bit his lip as the door slowly opened and before he saw who entered the room swung out with the leg. He gasped when a hand shot up to grab the piece of wood in mid-air preventing it from hitting its target and he looked up into the face of their boss.

"Dinozzo?" The older man quickly commented raising an eyebrow and looking up at the chunk of wood.

Tony gave a nervous chuckle and dropped the wood "Sorry, I thought you were someone else." He grinned incredibly relieved to see the man stood in front of him even If he had almost caved the man's head in.

"Figured." Gibbs replied gruffly placing a hand on Tony's shoulder almost expecting him to topple over at any moment.

Tony wanted to ask hundreds of questions including how had they found them? When a sudden thought occurred to him, turning away from Gibbs he ran back to Tim who was lying exactly where he had left him, "Boss we need an ambulance."

Gibbs ran after Tony before he knelt down beside his younger agent "On the way already Bishop is leading them here, what happened?" He asked uncharacteristically softly.

Tony had one had resting on Tim's wrist feeling his pulse while the other continued the pressure on his side "I don't know, the idiots that grabbed us didn't find my knife so Tim managed to drag himself across the room and grab it, when he did he cut my ties and I did his. We had only just stood up when I noticed how pale he had gotten and the next thing I knew he was falling to his knees and I saw the wound for the first time." He explained not willing to explain just how terrified he had been in that moment watching his friend and partner fall to his knees like that. "I've been trying to keep him awake and keeping pressure against the wound since then but we were here for a while before I found out and it's been a while since then."

The worry was clear in Tony's voice and Gibbs didn't like the way his older agent was acting "Hey." He snapped gently tapping the back of Tony's head "He does not have permission to be anything but fine."

Gibbs turned his attention to his younger agent gently moving Tony's hand away from his ruined shirt so he could see the wound trying not to let Tony see any reaction he had towards the wound as he ripped a clean strip from his own shirt and wrapped it around the wound before he pressed Tony's shirt against it again.

Tony was so used to the slow beat against his finger that the feel slipped to the back of his mind as he watched Gibbs, it took him a moment to realise the feeling had stopped and when he realised he gasped loudly "No TIM! DON'T YOU DARE!" He hissed moving his fingers frantically to try and find the beat again.

Waiting a moment to make sure it wasn't a false alarm Gibbs nudged Tony out of the way before he started CPR on his agent "C'mon Tim." He mumbled as he counted stopping after a moment so Tony could check his pulse.

Looking younger and more vulnerable than Gibbs had ever seen Tony shook his head when he couldn't feel anything again. Muttering to himself he re started the CPR counting to 25 this time before he made Tony check again his own pulse seemed to be pounding through his ears.

"YES! He's back!" Tony cried almost falling back "Stay with me Tim I promised I would get us out of here." Tony whispered into Tim's ear closing his eyes for a moment as a team of paramedics ran into the room running straight to Tim.

It didn't take them long to realise how Ill Tim was and with the help of Gibbs they had the young agent lifted onto a stretcher and quickly placed in the ambulance "Do any of you know what blood type he is?" One of the paramedics called as he grabbed a mobile phone.

"A- Neg" All three agents replied quickly having previously learned how important information like that could become in the field.

The paramedic nodded before he rang ahead to the emergency department urging them to get pints of blood ready before the doors closed and the ambulance raced away from the scene leaving three terrified agents behind.

It had been three hours since Tim had been taken away in the ambulance, Gibbs had driven Tony to the hospital the moment back up arrived to help Bishop process the scene. He kept throwing glances over to his senior agent almost in shock that he didn't even have a scratch on him while the younger agent was finishing up in emergency surgery.

Sighing he stood deciding it was time to attempt the horrendous coffee from the machine down the hall while he tried to get some answers about his agents condition. Gibbs couldn't help a small smirk as he realised the hospital had gotten new coffee machines these ones much better than the ones they had previously. Wandering up to the nurse's station with his coffee he waited until the young women behind the desk stopped typing before he asked if there was any news on Tim.

"I believe they are just finishing up in surgery Agent Gibbs I'll send someone to speak with you as soon as they have him settled in a room." She offered softly pointing back to the waiting room.

Gibbs gave a quick thanks before he wandered back to the room sitting back down beside Tony he sighed softly "You better not be blaming yourself Dinozzo."

Tony glanced back at his boss but didn't reply they both knew exactly what he was doing and nothing would change that.

Sitting back they both waited for more news, Gibbs enjoying the new coffee while he though back to the events of the day.

It was another half an hour before a doctor wandered into the room recognising Gibbs from the many times they had been in there, "Agent Gibbs, I'm pleased to say your agent is quite a fighter." She smirked expecting nothing else.

Gibbs smirked back "He's one of my agents Helen what do you expect."

She chuckled softly "Well he came through surgery without any issues, he did need quite a large blood transfusion however so that process is still on going. While I was repairing the damage from the wound I found this I imagine you will need it for evidence so I made sure it got straight to you, its quite remarkable actually I believe that may have just saved his life." She explained honestly handing over what looked to be the tip of an old hunting knife "I found that stuck into a major artery if it had moved or fallen out he would have bleed out within 10 minutes."

Tony paled at the news feeling his hand balling into a fist as he tried to control his emotions.

"I've got him in a private room down the hall, room 221 you can see him whenever you're ready and don't worry I know you all will be coming in and out at all times, I just insist that you let him rest otherwise I will not hesitate in kicking you all out." She replied firmly showing no room for argument.

Gibbs nodded and thanked her before he turned to Tony "you coming?" He asked simply giving Tony time to pull himself together if he needed.

Tony nodded not looking at the piece of knife Gibbs still held before he set off down the hall with his boss following.

As they entered the room they could hear someone giggling like a child, looking confused Tony stuck his head around the door and grinned when he saw Tim lying in the bed a wide smile on his face obviously still recovering from the anaesthesia. "He's been telling me a story about his friend who almost knocked their boss out with a chair leg." The young nurse explained with a knowing smirk "apparently Tim thinks the person that did it was so scared he almost fainted." She giggled.

Tony quickly grinned and wandered over to Tims bedside "Hey probie looks like they've got you on the good stuff." He told him resting a hand on his shoulder.

Tim nodded enthusiastically "My toes are tingling." He grinned his eyes wide " as he reached up with a clumsy hand to give Tony one of Gibbs trade mark head slaps.

"What was that for?" Tony replied smirking still as he helped rest his partners arm back on the bed.

Tim thought for a moment "I don't like the great Gatsby." He decided with a pout.

Tony laughed and looked back at Gibbs finally relaxing now that his Probie was going to be just fine.


End file.
